STEVE Williams is not asking a great deal of his team when they face Waterloo tomorrow - the Pertemps Bees coach just wants them to play for 80 minutes.

STEVE Williams is not asking a great deal of his team when they face Waterloo tomorrow - the Pertemps Bees coach just wants them to play for 80 minutes.

Williams, the former Wales lock, is passionate about the game and the manner of last weekend's defeat by Newbury would have hurt.

Bees played well first half, built up a 26-7 lead, and then, instead of putting the Berkshire side to the sword, nodded off after the break and not only allowed Newbury back in but leaked scores in the dying seconds to hand them victory.

Williams accepts that with virtually a new squad it will take time for them to all bed in and work as a unit.

He said: "We have always said it will take us until after Christmas to get to where we want to be. That was always the case and nothing has changed. It takes time to gel it together.

"That is not an issue and it is not an excuse. But we still should have won that game on Saturday and we should have played better in the second half than we did."

The players, he said, were disappointed at the defeat.

"They need to produce their own sort of atmosphere. There is no external stimulus, it has got to come from within. When we thought the game was won they probably stopped playing."

Bees captain Mark Cornwell is set to miss the game at Blundellsands tomorrow.

He has been troubled by sore knees for the past couple of weeks and is expected to be rested. Mark Gabey, Corn-well's fellow lock, is expected to lead the side.

Bees should be boosted by the availability of full-back Jon Goodridge, who was originally rated doubtful after he suffered a neck injury against Newbury.

Centre Dave Knight is expected to return to the starting line-up after a three-week absence because of a sore back.

Waterloo, third bottom, who came up with Moseley last year, have only managed two wins and a single bonus point in their eight matches so far but Bees cannot afford to take them lightly.

One of those wins came last weekend when they became the first visiting side to register a win at Exeter's new Sandy Park ground.